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I Think That I Shall Never See A Poem As Lovely As That One, Over There, By Mayor B

Thursday, April 26, 2012 - 04:15 AM

It could not be determined by press time whether this was Ovid or Michael Bloomberg.

(New York, NY -WNYC) UPDATED Question: Which of these names does not belong with the others? Dante, Ovid, Michael Bloomberg, William Butler Yeats?

Answer: Trick question. Each of those poets will have their work displayed on a large Times Square video screen Thursday as part of Poem in Your Pocket Day.

Before the the Mayor's Office released poet Bloomberg's verse, we imagined some. (Actual poem at end of post.)

For example, this Bloombergian haiku:

New York needs further remaking. On that, I’m firm. Therefore, my third term.

New York has celebrated Poem in Your Pocket Day since 1992. But this appears to be the first year that the mayor's metric prosody will be beamed onto MTV's video screen at 44th Street and Broadway, beginning at 10 a.m.

The Poetry Society of America, which is sponsoring the event, said in a statement that the mayor's "original poem" will share time with "the five winning poetweets of the Mayor’s Office 'Poetweet' contest; images from the MTA Arts for Transit and Poetry Society of America’s newest Poetry in Motion initiative; and poems by famous authors."

Set aside, if you will, the syllabic abomination that is the word "Poetweet" to consider the possibility that Dylan Thomas' defiant line, "Rage, rage against the dying of the light," could be followed by a scrap of mayoral doggerel about the salutary effects of quitting smoking. Perhaps:

I have promises to keep And besides, a pack of Marlboros isn't cheap.

SUGGESTION: Compose your own fake example of a poem by Mayor Bloomberg and leave it in the comments section below, or "Poetweet" it at us at @TransportNation.

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